Kit Review

Straight build
+ Stickers

Size comparison with a cigarette pack

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (1/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (2/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (3/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (4/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (5/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (6/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (7/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (8/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (9/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (10/13)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Various angles (11/13)

Various angles

The cute bow section~

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Figures placed here and there.. (1/6)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Figures placed here and there.. (2/6)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Figures placed here and there.. (3/6)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Figures placed here and there.. (4/6)

Figures placed here and there..

Side view. The numbers on each side are different.

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Stern section (1/4)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - Stern section (2/4)

Stern section

The propeller and rudder.
Unlike the Going Merry, the rudder is fixed rather than movable.

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - The huge sails and sticker seals. The Going Merry's sails were so big the seals would wrinkle up..

The huge sails and sticker seals.
The Going Merry's sails were so big the seals would wrinkle up..
On the Thousand Sunny they go on nice and smooth ^^

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - The flags. The flags are also smaller than the Going Merry's, so you can apply them cleanly. (1/3)

The flags.
The flags are also smaller than the Going Merry's, so you can apply them cleanly.

There are 3 sails in total.

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - The stand lets you plug in cute mini figures — Shiro Mokuba I, Mini Merry II, and Shark Submerge I

The stand lets you plug in cute mini figures — Shiro Mokuba I, Mini Merry II, and Shark Submerge III.
The connection points are a bit weak though.. they'll fall off easily if you don't glue them.

The deck without any figures

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - 5 standing figures and 4 seated figures are included. From the back row left to right: Franky, San

5 standing figures and 4 seated figures are included.
From the back row left to right: Franky, Sanji, Usopp, Robin, Brook,
And from the front row left to right: Luffy, Chopper, Zoro.
Actually.. there's supposed to be a seated Nami figure too.. but she's gone off to Andromeda T_T

The face section at the bow can be swapped out for a version with the cannons extended.

You can twist and remove the number plate on the side..

And swap it out for a propeller as shown.

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - With the bow and side propellers swapped in (1/7)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - With the bow and side propellers swapped in (2/7)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - With the bow and side propellers swapped in (3/7)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - With the bow and side propellers swapped in (4/7)

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - With the bow and side propellers swapped in (5/7)

With the bow and side propellers swapped in

Together with the previously released Going Merry.

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - They're similar in size, but the Thousand Sunny's overall color combination is far more vibrant an

They're similar in size, but in terms of overall color combination,
The Thousand Sunny is far more vibrant and eye-catching.
And the Thousand Sunny is actually much larger in the story.. but since it's Non Scale, they came out at a similar size.

One Piece Thousand-Sunny - The figures on the left are from the Going Merry, and the ones on the right are from the Thousand

The figures on the left are from the Going Merry, and the ones on the right are from the Thousand Sunny.
It feels like comparing 1/100 to 1/144..
That's just how much smaller a scale the Thousand Sunny was released at.

Straight build

After the release of the One Piece Going Merry — a ship model kit from an unexpected manga — sure enough, the Thousand Sunny followed. The overall kit composition and molded colors follow the same concept, and even the price came out the same.

However, due to the design's nature, the Thousand Sunny's colors are far more vibrant, so even at the runner stage there are 2 system injection runners. The straight build alone is already pretty colorful, but once you apply all the included stickers and seals, most of the official colors are represented and you end up with a seriously colorful display piece ^^

Maybe that's why the overall straight build quality feels noticeably better than the Going Merry. In particular, getting the seals on the Going Merry's huge sails neatly was a real pain, but with the Thousand Sunny the sails and seals are smaller, making it much easier to apply the skull seals cleanly. The flags at the very top are also smaller than the Going Merry's, so those go on cleanly without much trouble too, and without bulky items like an anchor getting in the way, it's also much easier to pick up and move around.

The stand has a similar feel to the Going Merry's, but the Thousand Sunny's holds together more securely. On top of that, 3 cute mini figures are included for display on the stand, adding a charming little touch.

A total of 9 figures are included, making it feel even more packed, though they're about 60% the size of the Going Merry's figures. This is because the kit is essentially Non Scale — meaning the scale was set arbitrarily. The Thousand Sunny is actually much larger in the lore, but since the kit's volume was made similar to the Going Merry's, the figures end up feeling smaller by comparison.

As for optional features, the face at the bow can be swapped to the cannon-extended version, and the number plate on the side can be replaced with a propeller. Overall, it feels like an improved kit over the Going Merry in every way — molded colors, build quality, included accessories, you name it — and it's definitely worth building for any One Piece fan. If you had to choose just one between the Going Merry and the Thousand Sunny, this is the one I'd recommend first. Above all, it's a uniquely fun ship model kit from Bandai with a really enjoyable build experience.. so if you're feeling burned out on Gunpla, I think this will definitely give you a fresh kind of fun :-)

Thousand-Sunny | 2011. 3 | ¥3,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.